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Recommended books – May 14

As we approach our last discussion of Ask the Beasts (next week, May 21),
Barry Turner recommends these books for further reading:

The Dream of the Earth, by Thomas Berry (1988) – A new intellectual-ethical framework for the human community which posits planetary well-being as the measure of all human activity. Shows us how the convergence of modern science and a more venerable spiritual and religious affinity for creation can lead to a new covenant of ethical responsibility for the natural world.

The Universe Story: From the Primordial Flaring Forth to the Ecozoic Era, A Celebration of the Unfolding of the Cosmos, by Brian Swimme and Thomas Berry (1992) – “Could be the antidote to fragmented commitments and nihilism – the narrative from which future generations can live appropriately to our real natural-historical situation.” (John Cobb)

The Great Work: Our Way Into the Future, by Thomas Berry (1999) – Thomas Berry is the bard of the new cosmology. He unerringly finds the mythic dimension and the moral significance behind scientific facts. He shows us where our work lies.

Evening Thoughts: Reflecting on Earth as Sacred Community, by Thomas Berry, ed. by Mary Evelyn Tucker (2006) – “What we look for is no longer the Pax Romana, the peace of imperial Rome, nor is it simply the Pax Humana, the peace among humans, but the Pax Gaia, the peace of the Earth and every being on the Earth. This is the original and final peace, the peace granted by whatever power brings our world into being. Within the universe, the planet Earth with all its wonder is the place for the meeting of the divine and the human.”

The Sacred Universe: Earth, Spirituality, and Religion in the 21st Century, by Thomas Berry, ed. by Mary Evelyn Tucker (2009) – “These essays enable us to follow the broadening and deepening vision of a passionate lover of wisdom. Berry inherited the ancient task of philosophy: to seek comprehensive understanding of the most important questions as a guide to life. With insight that is unexcelled, he writes graciously but uncompromisingly about the profound changes that must occur individually and collectively.” (John Cobb)

Books by other authors:

The Unbearable Wholeness of Being: God, Evolution and the Power of Love, by
Ilia Delio (2013) – “With effective mentoring by Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, Ilia Delio has constructed a convincing case for love as the source and goal of the evolutionary process that makes it ever-more clear that we need to become increasingly conscious of ourselves as ‘love creatures’ and how this way of being human might contribute to the healing of violence in, among, and around us.” (Michael Crosby)

From Teilhard to Omega: Co-creating an Unfinished Universe– ed. by Ilia Delio (2014) – “A useful and much overdue contribution! These wonderfully diverse and helpful essays (13 in all) will open up many new access routes to a Christian mystic whose time has definitely arrived.” (Cynthia Bourgeault)

Transforming Christian Theology: for Church and Society, by Philip Clayton (2010) – “One of America’s premier theologians seriously writes for ordinary Christians, inviting them to become their own theologians.” (John Cobb)